Welcome Queenstown to the Pike
Of course we welcome fans of Queenstown Ramblers to the Pike rounds tomorrow night, but we are not sure how many will actually make the journey. It is the school holidays so the late night required to visit the Pike Field might mean that their legions of schoolboy fans can make the trip. The fact that most of them are too young to drive though might make it difficult.
This may surprise any Limerick fans that have not made the trip down to St Colman’s crèche – but those that have will know what I am talking about. It may explain why the pitch so closely resembles a sandpit. After the game all the fans can go in with their buckets and spades to build castles. If you want to know how to get to St Slopeman’s you just follow the yellow brick road out of Cork – and entering the ground the Munchkins appear, circling the pitch in gangs of three or four stopping every so often to get up on shoulders to see the match over the wall.
I suppose we shouldn’t be too hard on them. After all these young people are the fans of tomorrow. And there isn’t much else to do in Queenstown of a Saturday night when you’re 12.
The last time Limerick played there we beat the Rams 2-0; Ciaran Foley scored both goals. They were in the middle of a pretty bad patch – but more about the pitch later – but since then their tails are up and they are coming into this game in confident mood. After all they managed to beat Athlone two weeks ago and they got a draw against Sligo last week. Yes, that’s the sort of form that gets Queenstown all excited. Yes, that’s the same Sligo team we hammered the previous week and well, Athlone, enough said.
What will be really interesting will be to see how Queenstown actually manage to play on grass. I don’t mean to imply that they will be smoking it (all you have to do is look at the steam coming out of Dave Hill’s ears and nostrils to know that he is far from a happy-clappy place - though he does always look like he has a bad case of the munchies). No, I mean that the pitch at St Slopeman’s is only slightly better than those used in the Sub-Saharan version of the Inter-Toto Cup. Rumours that Eric Cantona was going to sign for Queenstown thinking they were a beach football team are completely wide of the mark. Just like Willie Bruton’s season then….
All joking aside though, Willie hasn’t played that badly really. After all he has done very well just to stay focused this year having been so close to signing for a proper Cork side in the close season. And when the move to Rockmount fell through he nearly signed for Cork City as well. So let’s spare a thought for Willie when, instead of running onto passes perfectly weighted by George O’Callaghan he has to chase aimless balls played over midfield by Jason Kabia. Maybe Willie wishes he actually was on grass.
